As a fired bullet traverse the barrel of a conventional rifle having no muzzle modifications, two distinct volumes of pressurized gas typically travel toward the muzzle (or muzzlewardly) along with the bullet. Such traveling bullet typically functions as a plunger or piston creating a pressure wave or zone of high pressure which moves muzzlewardly immediately in front of the bullet. Such moving zone of high pressure gas is referred to herein as a “muzzleward pressure wave”.
Immediately to the rear of or breachwardly from such rifle fired bullet, a propellant induced pressure wave (i.e., a breachward pressure wave) similarly expands muzzlewardly along with the bullet, the front of such pressure wave residing immediately to the rear of the bullet. During such conventional firing of a bullet from a firearm having an unmodified or plain muzzle, the breachward pressure wave is typically of much greater magnitude and intensity than the above described muzzleward pressure wave. During such conventional bullet passage through an unmodified gun barrel, virtually all of the accumulated kinetic energy of the muzzleward pressure wave is harmlessly directed muzzlewardly and away from the traveling bullet. Accordingly, a plain or unmodified gun barrel muzzle advantageously tends to minimize any velocity reducing effects or bullet travel path perturbing effects of the muzzleward compression wave upon the bullet.
As a fired bullet approaches the muzzle, the muzzleward pressure wave within the rifle's bore typically emits and dissipates harmlessly and with little sound. In contrast, when the bullet clears the muzzle, the breachward pressure wave emits explosively from the muzzle and produces a loud report or muzzle blast along with a muzzle flash which is prominent during darkness. Conventional sound suppressors or modifiers which are attached to or integrally formed with a rifle's muzzle are known to be provided for reducing such muzzle blasts and muzzle flashes.
Commonly known muzzle mounted sound suppressors interpose a series of variously shaped chambers and sound baffles which are intended to minimize the magnitude or intensity of the breachward compression wave at its point of release from the rifle's muzzle. While such baffles and chambers effectively minimize or reduce muzzle blast and flash, they typically interfere with the ability of a plain muzzle gun barrel to harmlessly direct and emit the muzzleward compression wave. In operation of such common sound suppressors, portions of the muzzleward compression wave which are reflected radially inwardly toward the path of the bullet undesirably impinge against the bullet prior to the bullet's emergence from the muzzle. In contrast with an unmodified gun barrel muzzle which cleanly and efficiently emits the muzzleward compression wave ahead of and away from the traveling bullet, common sound suppression modified muzzles redirect portions of the muzzleward compression wave, and via such redirection threaten to perturb the travel path of the bullet and/or reduce the bullet's velocity.
The instant inventive gun barrel sound suppressor solves or ameliorates the problems, defects, and disadvantages described above by disposing and configuring at the muzzleward end of a gun barrel a series of circumferentially extending “U” channels having breachwardly canted “U” arms.